CAT CLAWS

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PAGE THREE

Richard tried to collect himself before walking up to the apartment. Holding the gift behind his back, he rang the doorbell and waited impatiently, hoping this damned cat would be the little push she needed.


The door opened and Elaine stood there smiling up into Blake's face. She was four and a half feet tall and almost as wide. Her hair was a mousy brown and hung flat against her pimply face. Her eyes, spaced to close together were divided by a pointed beak of a nose. She moved from the door to allow Richard room to walk in. He turned around and proudly gave her the package.


"For me, Richard?" she cooed. He watched as she tore the brown paper off to reveal the crystal cat


"Oh, it's so beautiful!" She turned around and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I love it, and I don't have anything like it in my collection."


She rushed over to the showcase next to the picture window and placed it into the middle of her collection. As she stepped back, the sun hit the new addition and rainbows flowed out of it, surrounding the showcase. "Look Richard, isn't it just fantastic?"


Richard watched as the rainbows shimmered against the other cats in the collection. She had every type, from lions to kittens, made of brass, pewter, clay and china. It was a strange sight, almost like a holy altar was set up to worship the great cat god in the sky, surrounded by feline angels. It sent a shiver up his neck. Why, he thought, would anyone want to waste their time collecting this junk.

"Elaine, why don't you get dressed and I'll take us out to dinner." At this moment, he wanted to be as far away from those cats as possible. "Then maybe we can see a show or something!".


The dinner was as boring as ever. All Elaine talked about was her poor dead father and her many idiotic friends from Prep school. Richard was glad to get away from the face to face closeness of the restaurant to the side by side isolation of the theater. The play was almost as boring as Elaine. But he had to be the perfect man, the one that Elaine desired. He put his arm around her shoulder and turning toward her, smiling his best, I love you smile. A sharp pain suddenly hit his ankle, making him leap out of his seat with a loud cry. Everyone turned and stared at him.


"What's wrong, Richard?" Elaine asked as she stood up next to him. "Are you okay?"


"Something bit me!" Pictures formed in his mind of some hungry rat scurrying under the seats taking nibbles for its supper. "Let's go see the manager!"

Twenty minutes later after a fruitless argument with the theater manager, Richard sat in the emergency room of the Lady of Miracles. He sat there watching the doctor clean out the small wound. "It wasn't a rat that got you Buddy!" the doctor said as he poured something on the wound, causing a hot searing pain to shoot up Richard's leg.

"Are you sure?" Blake could only think about the thousand different kinds of diseases that rats could carry. "I mean if it wasn't a rat, then what was it?"


"I've seen a lot of rat bites and I'm sure this was caused by either a puppy or I would guess a cat!" The doctor looked up at Richard's face, it was ashen and Richard was beginning to hyperventilate. "Look, it's not that bad, the wound wasn't very deep and I've informed the health department to check that theater out. You'll need to come back in a couple of days, so I can see how it looks."


"Fine, just let me get out of here, all right?" Richard jumped down off the examination table and limped out to the waiting room. "Come on Elaine, let's go to your place!"


The drive home was a nightmare. Cats have become a part of his life in a way he could certainly do without. As they entered into the apartment, Elaine said that she wanted to get into something more comfortable and she told Richard to relax in the living room. He sat down on the couch in the dark, looking through the picture window at the skyline of the city, with its thousands of blinking lights, he wondered how many cats roamed and prowled the streets and alleys in a city as large as this. He looked over at the showcase and hurriedly turned on the table lamp, afraid to be in the room with the feline shrine, especially in the dark.


Elaine walked in wearing a sheer night gown that only amplified the ugliness of her body. Richard was sure that she imagines herself to be irresistible at this moment. He realized what she wanted. She walked toward the bar but stopped at her collection. She stared at the top shelf.


"Richard, did I move one of the china kittens, earlier?"


"No, I don't think so, it must be there somewhere!" Richard watched as her beady eyes darted from shelf to shelf. He was becoming agitated at being second fiddle to her damn cats.


"Come on Elaine, how about a drink?" he said, rubbing his wound.


Then she sat down next to him. "I guess I must have moved it, but I just don't remember doing it."

The lovemaking was strictly a chore that Richard performed while visions of money danced in his imagination. Elaine reacted with as much enjoyment as a damp dishrag. When morning came through the bedroom window, Richard got out of bed slowly so he wouldn't wake up Elaine. He looked at Elaine's disgusting body and shook his head and wondered if it was even worth it. She woke up as he was fastening the last button on his shirt.


"I didn't mean to wake you, Elaine." He sat on the edge of the bed and put his shoes on.


"I've got an early business appointment and I better get home to get cleaned up."


She smiled through puffy matted eyes and went back to sleep. He walked out of the bedroom into the living room. He leaned down to grab his keys off the table and froze in that spot. There by his keys, sat a small china kitten, grinning with sharp, elongated teeth. He knew it wasn't there last night, unless Elaine found it and placed it there. Richard fled the apartment to the safety and sanity outside.


Richard had no appointments that day except, to go home, wash up, sleep and wake up in time to meet his friends at the city bar and grill. He didn't have a job and felt he shouldn't have to get one. He had received quite a bit of cash when his dad died, but his reserve was becoming dangerously low and he was dreading the prospect of having to work to pay for his needs.


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